Sleep...where are you?

Woo...I'm ready for the cpap machine and have not heard from the Doctor yet.  I supposed to give him 2 weeks to contact me!  So...I'm waiting.  Spent some time at church yesterday working on more Easter stuff.  Fun, fun.  Last night watched two basketball games.  IU lost...boo hoo.  Pacers one.  Today I'm heading to church for front desk telephone stuff.  I'm taking my huge now three inch thick banner book and typing some entries for banners that need a bit of explaining.  It's coming right along.  Someday it will be finished???  Doug is coming also to take pictures of some stuff we missed on the last picture taking.  Then it's a long bell practice this evening.   Sat. we are all going to Anderson for a bell party with another bell choir.  Well, it's a day of practice and an afternoon program.  It should be interesting and a lot of fun as it was last year. 

Thursday...big day for friend Sharon Durm.  She suffered a brain aneurysm on the 27th of January while vacationing in Florida.  She was flown to Indy last week and will have brain surgery to fix the aneurysm on Thursday.  The aneurysm is huge and will not be an easy fix.  So...pray, pray. 

And Thursday is also B and B and Choir.  Busy, busy.  Now I'm going to attempt to go back to sleep.  Wish me luck. 

Good Sunday

Well, Good Friday is coming but this was a Good Sunday.  Great help in the Community Room.  Didn't do much but new helping person Tressa is a gem!  So...I hung out elsewhere.  Put some finishing touches on visuals.  Cleared out the chapel from the Thursday evening service and just sort of vegged!  Now isn't that something new!  Good music and very good packed filled sermon on reading the Bible from many perspectives.  A great liberal preacher with his feet firmly on the ground.   He can preach.  Such a wonderfully creatively thinking mind.   I thought he packed about three sermons into one.  Woo...kept the brain tracking for sure.  I packed up 100 wine bottle bags this afternoon to send to Ga. .  Now to the post office sometime tomorrow if I'm lucky.  Noah is here in the morning for a couple of hrs.  I want to go to church soon after that to fix more Easter wreaths and put away a Bible display table created for today's service and get the sanctuary ready for next Sunday...It's a communion Sunday.   Doris was at church today and gave me high complements for all the Lent displays.  Wooo.   Told her I had the best teacher meaning her.  And what a teacher she is.  Yesterday we planned her second "last" lecture she will give.  Funny lady always thinking all the time with her brain of 92 years.  We picked 8 banners for this "second last" lecture.  Watching basketball this afternoon.  Some good games, one being Ohio State and Michigan State. 

I can finally say my hand has stopped hurting from last Sundays thump to the floor.  My knees still let me know they are around with pockets of fluid but not stressing them so much today was a good thing.  No ice at this point.  Yahoo.  Hope it continues.  I have an annual knee appointment sometime in April.  Good thing!  I was going to blow it off but I think not at this point.  Need to make an appointment with the skin doc.  I have a funny rough spot on my face.  Got to keep watch on those things.  This maintenance thing is a full time job. 

Fri evening

Thursday Soup Day was great.  The guys are so nice and the ladies all behaved themselves.  Laura wasn't there!!!!  After that was over I spent some time finishing up all the stuff needed for the weekly Thurs. eve Lenten services.  Darren is such a creative guy and loves visuals.   Yahoo.  Makes me motivated.  He gets it.  Then went to church for the 6 pm service and on to choir practice.  A big sleet storm awaited us in the parking lot at 8:30.  The word was out early and the salt trucks were noticable.  I said that Carmel was a green city with all the streets treated with green stuff even every street in our subdivision. 

So...today I planned to stay home.  But I didn't predict that I would be sleeping a lot of the day.  I have an idea that because I knew of the sleep problem, I just gave in.  I usually try to push through all the foggy feelings.  Well, today I didn't.  So...not very productive.  The more I think about sleep disorder, I think of my dad who never could stay awake in church and who was told repeatedly that he stopped breathing while sleeping.  Oooo...one gets used to feeling foggy so who would have guessed that he had a sleeping problem.  No idea in the 50's.  So...hoping for better sleep tonight although I was just aware of one wake up...That's aware of it.  Looking forward to the machine.  Just 4hrs. on it at the center made a big difference for the next day.  I will be delivered!  Cold and frozen in Indy.  No Carmel. 

Sleep Study

Flunk as I thought I would.  No amount of studying would have fixes that.  At one am Micki came into the room and said I met all the criteria for a mask!  Really?  Yes...Really!  The mask and tube delivers air pressure to my throat to keep it open.  Other wise I stop breathing, snore and more I guess.  At some point a Doc. appointment and then a little machine that will keep me breathing and take stress off of other parts of my body.  More maintenance.  There is a ton of it now and more is being added.  Well, the fact that my body will last longer is a very ok thing.  Yahoo.  Another miracle of medicine.  Church desk work and then maybe some work for Easter visuals.  We'll see. 

Tuesday morning

I just finished the 110th wine bottle bag and need to find a box to send them on their way to Georgia.  It's a wonderful way to use up fabric which I have what seems to be a ton of it all gifted to me.  Woo...keep that sewing machine going.  That 110 is in addition to about 60 or so I sent before Christmas.  I was working on finding a place for fabric now all over the living room and decided that the only way I was going to find space was to empty some fabric...so...wind bottle bags. 

Sunday proved to be very interesting.  One thing of interest was a giant merger with the floor in the community room.  Woo...cement is hard.  Anyway I think I made my point about unneeded floor mats with buckled edges which has been the topic of previous conversations with the building manager.  4 point landing...head, hand and two knees.  So...Sun. afternoon, evening and Monday was spent with the ice bags.  And amazingly so...I'm in pretty good shape.  I am assuming that by next Sunday I'll be just fine.  My poor knees really take a beating. 

This morning Noah is visiting.  Such entertainment.   Way to cold for a visit to the creek.  That's my favorite with him.  This afternoon I'm packing my bag for the overnight sleep test.  Woo.  Last night was interesting.  Two hrs. of sleep at the most.  Should do better tonight.  I hope to watch the IU Mich. St. game before I sleep.  Should be a good game.  At least there is a ton of hype about it.  IU has not won at Mi. for at least 25 years. 

That's about it.  I'll get back with the sleep study results at some point. 

The week went somewhere

This week we spiffed up the church for Lent.  Banners got hung, purple flower decorated crosses got hung, the gold cross in the choir loft got it's purple drape.  The west entrance table theme is prayer with lots of different items like Tibetan prayer flags on a curly tree branch, praying hands, prayer shawl, Catholic prayer beads, etc. etc.  Such fun to pull stuff together.  Makes me remember my bulletin board teaching days.  I was at church just about every day and I think the spaces are ready.  Rather do something every day instead of doing a one day killer day.  Wed. I worked at the front desk, bells that evening.  Thursday was B and B and Choir as usual.  I took Friday off...Joke, Joke!!!  This week I also finished up the sewing project of flannel baby blankets and have sent 10 on their way to Eldoret, Mother and Baby Hospital.  Thank you Cindy for the fabric.  I also have made a few wine bags (30 to add to the 20 of a week or so ago)to send to Georgia to be used in the book store at the monastery.  So...staying busy for sure.  Today...sewing, watching I U basketball and then our usual run to Panera tonight for pastries for church tomorrow.  Still keeping a sleeping/awake log.  I'm convinced that I'll flunk the test on Tuesday night.  I can fall asleep at the drop of a hat watching TV in the morning.  Maybe that's why I'm sewing most of the time.  Sleepy head today and other days as well.  . 

After Wednesday

Thursday was a good day.  Lots of friends are coming to eat at Soup Kitchen.  Again there were three nursing students helping with food preparation and serving.  They are appreciated.  Choir in the evening.  Friday was a day that felt like I was really sleep deprived.  Uck.  I probably was.  But I pushed on through.  It felt like my brain was walking through mud.   I'm having a great time at the sewing machine with all of the things that Cindy sent my way which includes fun colors of fabric and a bunch of unfinished projects that now are moving toward the finish line.  I'm working with flannel now.  Cindy has a wonderful gift with bright colors.  The fabric is in the living room at this point and I've got to find a place in the sewing room.  I'll need to unload my junk stuff for sure.  Busy day at church today.  Bells are playing for both services.  Plainfield UMChurch choir is coming to sing with us at second service.  Hospitality continues in the community room.  I'll need to find a miracle in the freezer.  Panera run was might sparse.  Doris D is coming to church and we will take her home after showing off the banner closet!  I'm excited  and Doris is also excited.    Off to church at 6:40.  Lots to do. 

Sleep study coming on the 19th.  I'll probably prove the doctor's prediction.  He always wins.  Bummer.  Smart man he is!!!

Wed. again

The big occupier of my time lately has been helping Doris D with her banner presentation at the Forum. 
92 yr. old Doris has moved to this retirement community and has felt a bit isolated even though there are many people there.  She wanted so much to share with those folks what her calling has been for about 40 years so...we did that Tuesday morning.  Doris was her old self with words.  Not so with her body but she did make it through in fine form.  She chose 7 of her banners to talk about.  There was a lovely group of about 35 folks who were very interested in her stories.  It was a great morning for her as well has her listeners.  Then a few of us North and St. Lukes folks stayed and had lunch with her.  All went well with new banner poles helping in a great way.  The banners went back in my car, the poles in Doug's truck and back to church we went to put banners and poles to bed again.   Now it's getting the church ready visually for Lent.  It's been great fun to pull out old but not used for a long time things that can be placed around the church.  Next Monday and Tuesday will be some work days at church getting things in place for Ash Wednesday and the next liturgical season.  Today, I'm working at the front desk, have a 5:30 Ministries Council meeting, and then bells.  Sometimes I think I'm majoring in church.  That's a good major.